Camper question

[Evil Queen]

is there a certain type of battery that you put into a tow camper? The one we got has a marine battery in it with a solar panel to recharge it, but it isn't very powerful and the solar panel plugs are gone. Can I fry this thing if I put a bigger battery in it?

[MuddyPaws 3.0]

No not at all. No matter how big the battery is, it is still only 12 volts. The bigger the battery, the more current it can put out for a longer time so you can run lights and crap for a longer time without discharging the battery too bad.

TSC has good solar panels for charging batteries.

But yea, you need to have a deep cycle battery.

In the winter, pull the battery and take it home for storage unless you can hook a maintenance charger on it where it sits, which you can't.

[BIGBEN]

agree on the deep cycle. and also on taking it (the battery) home over winter. :thumb:

[Evil Queen]

will the battery we pulled on the jeep and recharged work? Is that a deep cycle?

[MuddyPaws 3.0]

No. Car batteries are starting batteries. They are not designed to go from charged to dead and back many times. It kills them.

However, in a pinch they will work.

[bellmer]

marine batteries are deepcycle tho arent they?

[phittie1100]

Yes - deep cycle = marine batteries, Optima blue tops, Sears makes one, lots to choose from

Check out rv.net - those guys take their battery selection, use and recharging way too seriously for me, but some of their ideas are helpful. They have competitions to see how long they can live off battery power alone, and rigging two 6-Volt golfcart batteries in series seems to be the latest craze.